Everyone gathered in the living room of the vampire’s mansion. While they had yet to find Shin’s hiding place, Alexandria had found the spell she needed in order to seal him away.

“But I need a few things,” she admitted, “nothing too big, just a few special rocks I can use to channel the sun’s power.”

“Where can we find these rocks?” Kris asked, “You can’t expect us to go digging for them, can you?”

“Of course not,” Bora smirked, a small chuckle escaping her, “most can be found at a regular jeweller’s shop.”

“But we might have some problems finding one,” the witch frowned, holding up her spell book to show a drawing of a rock. The stone appeared to be smooth like it had been sanded, not a single rough edge to be found, and was the same colour of pink as the sunrise, hints of blue running through it.

“I’ve seen this somewhere before,” Luhan said, trying to remember where he would have seen such a stone before. Bora raised an eye brow, wondering where Luhan would have seen the stone.

“I have, too,” Bora nodded, “we can go look for it after school tomorrow.”

“Once we have everything we should concentrate on finding Shin,” Suho advised.

“We can have a few people looking for him while the others get these rocks,” Kris suggested, “it’s pointless to have then and not know where he is.”

“Then we’ll separate into teams tomorrow,” Bora said, “unless anyone wants to search tonight.”

“We need to get home,” Suho sighed sadly, “it’s a full moon tonight and we don’t know what kind of changes becoming a hybrid has done to our wolf selves.” Bora nodded in understanding, bidding the twelve hybrids goodnight as they left.

“We should retire for the night,” Leo suggested, casting a glance at N. Ever since the older had given Jiwook relationship advice, something had been off about him. It had taken a few days, but Leo had finally realized that N was planning to confess his feelings for Bora. To help his friend, Leo decided to get everyone else out of the room, leaving the pair alone and giving N the opportunity to tell the original how he felt about her.

“Sleep well,” Bora nodded at the others, watching as everyone filed out of the room. When it was just her and N, she turned to him. “Are you going to sleep as well?” she asked.

“Not yet,” he replied, watching her carefully.

“Then don’t stay up too late,” she told him before starting to leave.

“Bora,” N called, catching her arm and pulling her towards him, “I need to talk to you.”

“Can’t it wait?” she asked, “I wish to sleep now, Hakyeon.” The use of his real name signaled that she realized that whatever it was he wished to talk about was important.

“I know,” he nodded, “but this can’t wait. Not anymore. It’s waited long enough.”

“Fine,” she relented, turning around to face him, “what is it?”

“I love you, Bora,” N said, looking her in the eye, “I have for years. You know it has nothing to do with a sire bond, too.” Bora simply stood there, her face void of the emotions turning within her.

“I know,” she finally said. She’d always know N had no sire bond with her, but it had made things easier for her to think that. To tell herself that his feelings were created by such a bond meant that she didn’t have to pay them any mind. It meant that she didn’t have to face her own feelings, that she could avoid them just as she had been doing for ages.

“I need to know if you love me in return,” N continued, “I can’t pretend I don’t feel what I feel any more. I can’t go on like I have been doing for all these years.”

Bora remained silent, but her eyes fell to the floor as she could no longer look him in the eye. It had been ages since she last let herself love someone romantically. The last time she had, she’d been hurt worse than she cared to admit. Now N wanted her to face those feelings and she didn’t know if she could. She’d avoided doing that for so long that facing such feelings again……… it scared her.

“I don’t know,” she told him, trying to keep her words simple so as not to let him know about her emotional turmoil.

“I can’t do this anymore,” he sighed, “you’re forever stuck in the past and it will always control you. Just because someone you loved in your past hurt you doesn’t mean others will as well. You let the fear of being hurt control you and your decisions. I need to focus on the future.” N didn’t need to say the words I’m leaving because both already knew it. The second he told her he needed to focus on his future, he had announced he was leaving.

And Bora let him go, let him walk right by her as he headed to his room to pack his things.

Silence fell and the original stood there, still looking at the floor. She wanted to stop him, wanted to call him back and confess her real feelings, her feelings of fear and of confusion. But she didn’t think it would do any good. She was a mess of emotions and couldn’t make up her mind what she felt for the red haired vampire. She cared for him, yes. Very deeply in fact. Yet she had no idea if her feelings went beyond that. Until she figured it out, it wasn’t fair to keep him by her side.

The following morning, before school, she told the others that N was gone.

“What do you mean gone?” Ken asked, looking quite alarmed at the news of the missing red haired vampire. Everyone looked worried. Why would N leave? The N they knew would NEVER leave Bora’s side, not for anything. What could have made him leave now.

“I mean exactly as I said,” she explained, her voice dull with lack of emotion, “he’s gone.” Everyone knew she was in pain, that N leaving had hurt her, but she refused to let it show. She had to be a leader now and those she led were in pain, too. Her own pain could be dealt with later.

“Why?” Leo asked. he figured he already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear Bora say it.

“He feels that I let the past control my decisions,” Bora said, her tone growing colder with each word, “and that he needs to find a new path. He feels that he needs to look to the future.”

“So you let him go?” Leo clarified, his own voice growing cold. How could Bora just let him leave?

“Yes,” she nodded, already figuring out where this was going, “and if anyone else wishes to go with him then they can leave as well.” With no more said, she left.

Leo blamed her, clearly. So it was natural he would go with N until the anger he felt for her faded. Ken, Ravi, Hongbin, and Hyuk would probably go with their hyungs, too, as would Jina and Hanbi. They might be loyal to her, but N was their friend, too. And he was hurting. She couldn’t blame them for wanting to go to him. In a way, it made her feel better knowing that N wouldn’t be alone.

Maybe that was why she had said what she said, practically told them to go. She wanted them to go to N, to keep him company and make sure he was safe.

Bora sighed. Things were a mess now, weren’t they? And it was her own fault, too. Why did it always seem that whenever an original was involved, things became a mess? Why did it seem like she was programed to hurt others, to destroy their lives?

A/N: don’t worry, N will be back (along with whoever goes with him). Sadly, for the sake of the story he needs to take a little vacation. Just remember: he’ll be back!